I would need to go through the whole plot, but Anno has said so himself.I mean Mazinger Z is the og mecha, and totally the type of power fantasy Anno is deconstructing/hommaging at the same time.The reveal of both the Mazinger and Eva are similar, similar to the action arc Mazinger is a monster of the week story, taking a darker turn later with a chapter that is pretty reminiscent of the Bardiel fight (actually two chapters that Anno combined).The pilot of Aphrodite is pretty much a tsundere, the mechs bleed, there is constant talk of some connection between the pilot and the mech, the mechs used by the enemy were apparently left behind by an acient civilization, etc.And similar to Shinji and Toji, Koji Kabuto has some bullies mess with him and later becomes friends with them. Only Koji beats the crap out of them, because he's a shonen character and has dem sideburnz.

Shinji: "Sooner or later I'll be betrayed... And they'll leave me. Still... I want to meet them again, because I believe my feelings at that time were real."Ryuko: "I'm gonna knock ya on your asses!"-Asuka: THINK IN GERMAN!!! -Shinji: Öh... Baumkuchen...Hayashida: "As game developers, our work is special. All of us here can put smiles on very many people's faces with our work.""In any case, it (Kill la Kill) is the greatest work of fiction ever written and should be taught in schools." -Squigsquasher~('.'~) (~'.')~ Dancin Kirby

I swear to god if Unit 8+2 kills Gendo and then the WUNDER goes into space to find the First Ancestral Race's homeworld and the WUNDER fuses with Unit 8+2 and they have an intense 15 minute battle sequence set to rap-opera and A Cruel Angel's Thesis, I'm going to lose my shit.

I've reached a point where I just generally don't give a fuck anymore. In a good way.

Oh god, I know the horns are supposed to be a reference to the original concept of Evangelions being based on mechanized Oni, but I can't help but see it as the broken ring on the front of Gurren Lagann's helmet. I much preferred when I thought Eva was original, before going full weeaboo and binging a bunch of anime that inspired Eva.

I've reached a point where I just generally don't give a fuck anymore. In a good way.